Miller third-quickest in practice as Bagnaia breaks lap record

Jack Miller has rounded out an all-Ducati top three in Friday practice for the German MotoGP.

It was a good day for the Ducati Lenovo Team at the Sachsenring, a circuit that has traditionally not favoured the Desmosedicis, with a Miller-led one-two in Free Practice 1 and a one-three in the afternoon session.

The Queenslander clocked a 1:21.479s in the morning, beating team-mate Francesco Bagnaia by 0.015s once the 45-minute hit-out was done.

Later in the day, he briefly pulled a big gap on the field when he was among the first to go into qualifying simulation mode, setting a 1:20.211s on new, soft-compound Michelin slicks.

Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Espargaro then laid down a 1:20.284s and 1:20.219s back-to-back, before Bagnaia usurped Miller with a 1:20.132s with a medium Michelin tyre on the front and soft on the rear.

That was already faster than Marc Marquez’s three-year-old All Time Lap Record, but the Italian went even faster again next time through as he set a 1:20.018s.

Mooney VR46’s Luca Marini split the factory Ducatis when he too beat Marquez’s old 1:20.195s benchmark, set in qualifying in 2019, by breaking the beam in a time of 1:20.133s.

CLICK HERE for Miller’s explanation of his performance improvement

In the end, Espargaro was the only non-Ducati rider in the top six, with Prima Pramac Racing team-mates Johann Zarco and Jorge Martin taking fifth and sixth respectively on the other two GP22-model Desmosedicis in the field.

Rounding out the top 10 were championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha), Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing), Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing) on an old Ducati, and Joan Mir.

The latter’s Suzuki Ecstar team-mate, Alex Rins, is one position outside the top 10 cut-off for Qualifying 2 at present, but is gritting his teeth with a fractured wrist which cannot have been helped by a crash in FP1 at Turn 1.

Remy Gardner finished the day in 22nd position at 1.285s off the pace, two spots and 0.517s ahead of Tech3 KTM Factory Racing team-mate Raul Fernandez.

In Moto3, Australian Joel Kelso (CIP Green Power KTM) was fourth-fastest in practice as he returns to the scene of a wild debut weekend in the lightweight class last year.

Kelso has battled through pain in recent weeks after being taken out by a rogue bike in the Warm Up at Jerez in May, but is only 0.245s off the pace set by Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Honda).

MotoGP Free Practice 3 takes place tonight at 17:55 AEST, then Free Practice 4 at 21:30 AEST and Qualifying 1 from 22:10 AEST.

Friday practice: German MotoGP Combined times